Whale Watching Worldwide

Local Case Study: Azores
The Portuguese archipelago of Azores sits isolated in the mid Atlantic Ocean, nearly halfway between
Canada and Portugal about 1500km (1200mi) from Lisbon. It is made up of nine volcanic islands as well as
islets divided into three groups (eastern, central and western) across approximately 600km (370mi). Due to
this mid ocean location, the island chain has great and plentiful access to many cetacean species, including
the largest of them all, the blue, fin, sei and sperm whales.
Whale watching as an industry has seen recent strong growth in tourist numbers mainly on the islands of
Pico and Faial (in the central group), and São Miguel (in the western group). During the most recent years,
the industry has also begun to expand to other islands across the central group including Terceira and
Graciosa Islands.
However, prior to whale watching, the islands were an equally appropriate location for whaling. The
commercial whaling industry ceased operation in 1984 due more to unfavourable market conditions than
any sense of conservation outcomes (Santos et al., 1995; Gonçalves & Prieto, 2003).
Experimental whale watching first started in 1989 with only one tour operator based in Lajes do Pico, Pico
Island continuing at this level until 1993. Since then, the offering of whale watching trips has constantly
grown not only in terms of number of whale watching operators, but at an even higher rate in the growth of
boats. Operators in 2008 were estimated at 19, up from 6 in 1998.
The distinct geographic coastal condition in Azores (steep topography, proximity to the mid‐Atlantic Ridge,
Santos et al., 1995; Gonçalves et al., 1996), favors the relatively easy spotting of cetaceans, even from land‐
based points. The use of land‐based lookouts to find cetaceans to pass on this information to the whale
watching boats is a re‐adaptation of the ancient whale hunting techniques used in the archipelago.
According to Gonçalves and Prieto, 2003, and, Neves‐Graça, 2004, lookouts scan the sea with powerful
binoculars and provide information (species, direction and distance to the target) to the whale watching
operators by radio. Some of the very same lookouts that were used for whaling in days gone have until
recently been used to assist whale watching companies find whales.
Until 1999, whale watching was conducted on a seasonal basis, beginning in March/May and extending until
October. Since 2000, the São Miguel island enterprises extended the activity period to all year round. In the
central Islands (Pico and Faial) the activity is still highly seasonal. Naturally, the number of job positions
increased along with the enterprise development, extended season and increment in the number of clients.
In 2004, there were 85 job positions and an estimated 127 people employed in the whale watching industry
in 2008. Most of these were skippers, mariners and lookouts. Although some employees work year round,
since 1996, the average duration of whale watching jobs in the Azores tends to be six months of the year
(Oliveira et al., 2005).
It has recently been estimated that 12.5% of tourists to the islands are visiting with the explicit intention to
watch whales (SREA, 2007a), and with the strong local community support for the industry (SREA, 2007b), it
appears that whale watching will continue growing and stimulating the generation of local employment and
flow on economic benefits to the islands.
References
Gonçalves, J. M. & Prieto, R. 2003. Da baleação ao ‘whale watching’. Sociedade e Território (magazine of urban and
regional studies), 35: 46‐53.
Gonçalves, J. M., Barreiros, J. P. Azevedo, J. M. N. & Norberto, R. 1996. Cetaceans stranded in the Azores during
1992‐96. Arquipélago, Life and Marine Sciences, 14A: 57‐65.
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